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Rose Bowl: Oregon 45, Wisconsin 38 (final)

January 2, 2012 | 5:45
pm

After a record number of points and more than 1,100 yards in offense, the 98th Rose Bowl ended at a standstill Monday evening in Pasadena.

With Wisconsin 25 yards away from potentially tying the score, an officials' review determined that Badgers quarterback Russell Wilson was a tick slow in spiking the football to stop the clock, and just like that the game was over.

Wisconsin, trailing by seven points, took over in its last possession at its own 13-yard line with 16 seconds left in regulation.

So much for overtime. The Oregon defense just came up with a huge turnover.

Wisconsin was driving and quarterback Russell Wilson had just hit Jared Abbrederis for a long gain, but Abbrederis fumled at the end of the play and linebacker Michael Clay made a diving recovery just as the ball was headed out of bounds.

Oregon has the ball at its own 27 yard line and will try to run out the clock.

Oregon 45, Wisconson 38 (6:50 left in fourth quarter)

Oregon just made a conservative decision that perhaps will set up overtime.

On a fourth-and-one play from the Wisconsin 13, Ducks Coach Chip Kelly called a timeout, then decided to kick a field goal.

Alejandro Maldonado converted on a 30-yard field goal to put Oregon up by seven points.

Only a few plays earlier, Oregon went for a first down -- and got it -- on a fourth-and-six play from mthe Wisconsin 22.

Darron Thomas completed an eight-yard pass to Lavasier Tuinei for the first down.

Oregon 42, Wisconsin 38 (14:29 left in fourth quarter)

Darron Thomas and Lavasier Tuinei have been a nice combination to complement the Ducks' running attack.

Thomas connected with Tuinei on an 11-yard scoring pass, the quarterback rolling to his right and throwing back over the middle to Tuinei at the back of the end zone.

The play was set up on yet another big play by Ducks freshman De'Anthony Thomas, who took a short pass over the middle and skipped out of a tackle to pick up a big first down on a third-and-nine play just before the touchdown.

Tuinei has six catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns.

--Mike Hiserman

Wisconsin 38, Oregon 35 (4:44 left in third quarter)

Just think, Badgers quarterback Russell Wilson could be back in North Carolina celebrating the Wolfpack’s Belk Bowl victory over Louisville. Instead Wilson, who transferred to Wisconsin last year, is carving up Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Wilson took the Badgers on 62-yard drive, completing three passes, the last an 18-yard touchdown throw to Nick Toon. Wilson had a 17-yard scrambling on a third-and-eight play.

Oregon 35, Wisconsin 31 (10:50 left in third quarter)

This qualified as a defensive stop.

The Badgers’ Jared Abbrederis returned the kickoff 60 yards. Montee Ball had another highlight run, going 13 yards while nearly hurdling two Oregon players. Yet the Ducks held the Badgers to a 29-yard field goal by Philip Welch.

Oregon 35, Wisconsin 28 (14:11 left in third quarter)

That didn’t take long.

De’Anthony Thomas swept left, found a gap and cut up the sideline for a 64-yard touchdown run on the third play of the second half to give the Ducks their first lead.

Thomas actually saw his average drop, from 91 yards to 77.5 yards a carry.

He had a 91-yard touchdown run on his only carry in the first half and has 275 all-purpose yards in the game.

Oregon 28, Wisconsin 28 (halftime)

Finding one standout player, or play, through the first half of the Rose Bowl was impossible. The list was too lengthy.

This, certainly, was not a repeat of Illinois’ 20-14 snoozer-of-a-victory over UCLA in the Fight Hunger Bowl -- the only other match-up between the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences this season.

Oregon running back De’Anthony Thomas was averaging 91 yards a carry, going untouched on a 91 yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Wisconsin’s Montee Mall had 123 yards in 21 rushes, and tied former Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders’ national record with his 39th touchdown.

Oregon’s LaMichael James had 77 yards rushing in eight carries with one touchdown.

Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson completed 10 of 13 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown. He was four for four on third-down passes.

Oregon had 341 yards total yards and Wisconsin had 295.

Oregon 28, Wisconsin 28 (0:30 left second quarter)

Ducks quarterback Darron Thomas was not rattled by his turnover.

He completed three passes and caught a pass during an 87-yard touchdown drive.

LaMichael James started the drive with a 29-yard run. Thomas ended it by tossing a three-yard touchdown pass to Lavasier Tuinei. Thomas had an eight-yard pass reception after handing off to backup quarterback Bryan Bennett on a gadget play.

Wisconsin 28, Oregon 21 (3:26 left second quarter)

Everyone is getting in on the scoring … even the Badgers’ defense.

Linebacker Mike Taylor hit quarterback Darron Thomas as he began to pass, knocking the ball loose. Louis Nzegwu picked it up and went 33 yards to give the Badgers the lead.

Oregon 21, Wisconsin 21 (10:36 left in second quarter)

Don’t touch that dial … or go to the bathroom.

De’Anthony Thomas returned the kickoff 46 yards. On the first play, Ducks quarterback Darron Thomas flipped a pass to Kenjon Barner, who was off on a 54-yard yard touchdown play.

Russell Wilson completed two key passes on the 64-yard drive, a 17-yard third-down pass to Jacob Pedersen and an 18-yard pass to Nick Toon

Oregon 14, Wisconsin 14 (end of first quarter)

Nice homecoming for former Crenshaw High star De'Anthony Thomas.

Thomas ripped through a huge hole and was off on a 91-yard sprint. Wisconsin safety Aaron Henry thought he had an angle, but was left choking on Thomas’ vapor trails.

The 91-yard run is the longest touchdown run in Rose Bowl history, topping the 88-yard run by Michigan’s Tyrone Wheatley against Washington in 1993.

Wisconsin 14, Oregon 7 (5:55 left in first quarter)

Your turn, Ducks.

So far Oregon’s silver helmets have shined more than Ducks defensive players.

Montee Ball had a 42-yard run and a 30-yard reception, accounting for 76 yards on the 84-yard drive. Quarterback Russell Wilson scored on a four-yard run.

--Chris Foster

Pac-12 update

The pride of the Pac-12 Conference now rests with its two top bowl-eligible teams.

Oregon is battling Big Ten champion Wisconsin right now in the Rose Bowl with Stanford taking on Big 12 champion Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl this evening.

The Pac-12 will have a losing bowl-game record even if both win, but at least the league would have some Bowl Championship Series cred.

The Pac-12 entered the game with a 1-4 bowl record, better only than the Western Athletic Conference, which went 0-3.

The Pac-12’s only win was by Utah, 30-27, in overtime against Georgia Tech.

The Big Ten hasn’t fared much better, with a 3-4 record. The Big Ten is 1-2 Monday after morning losses by Nebraska (to South Carolina in the Capital One Bowl) and Ohio State (to Florida in the Gator Bowl) and a triple-overtime win by Michigan State (over Georgia in the Outback Bowl).

The Big 12 entered Monday with a national-best 5-1 record.

--Mike Hiserman

Oregon 7, Wisconsin 7 (9:41 left in first quarter)

The Ducks answered the Badgers in 2 minutes 7 seconds.

The 80-yard drive started with quarterback Darron Thomas being stopped for no gain, then Oregon got rolling. LaMichael James had 23-yard run on a third-and-three play. Thomas and Lavasier Tuinei hooked up on a 35-yard completion to the Wisconsin one-yard line. James scored on the next play, his 20th touchdown this season.

Only 109 points to go to catch the 123 that Baylor and Wisconsin scored in the Alamo Bowl.

--Chris Foster

Wisconsin 7, Oregon 0 (11:48 left in first quarter)

Oregon obviously isn't the only team with a quick-hitting offense in the Rose Bowl game.

Wisconsin scored on its first possession, marching 77 yards in seven plays and taking a little more than three minutes.

Montee Ball ran for 27 yards in four carries and, on a third-down play, had a seven-yard reception for a first down.

The scoring play covered 38 yards on a pass from Russell Wilson to Jared Abbrederis.

After a play-action fake, Wilson rolled to his right and found Abbrederis a couple of strides ahead of Oregon cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu.

Pregame

Montee Ball has 38 touchdowns this season and needs just one more to equal what is recognized as the NCAA single-season record of 39, set by Barry Sanders in 1988.

But any “record” by Ball will be tainted by this: The fact that the NCAA is counting his bowl-game totals, whereas it didn’t count Sanders’ postseason games.

Sanders scored five touchdowns for Oklahoma State in a bowl game against Wyoming at the conclusion of the 1988 season, when he won the Heisman Trophy. Nowadays, that would make the record 44.

The NCAA has counted bowl performances in single-season record totals since 2002, but the organization has said they lack the resources to go back and update records from past seasons.

Ball can make this argument against Sanders, though: While the Rose Bowl will be his 14th game this season and Sanders played in one less, Ball enters the Rose Bowl having scored every 7.76 touches this season, while Sanders scored every 10.1 touches in his record-setting season.

In fact, Ball didn’t have a fourth-quarter carry in six games this season.

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Russell Wilson couldn't beat out Baylor's Robert Griffin for the Heisman Trophy or for All-American.

But he could beat Griffin in the NCAA record book with a strong performance in the Rose Bowl against Oregon on Monday afternoon.

Griffin holds the single-season quarterback rating record of 189.5, which includes his Alamo Bowl outing against Washington.

However, Wilson enters the Rose Bowl game with a 191.6 rating. Anything close to that number against the Ducks and he will finish ahead of Griffin.

Colt Brennan held the record until this season. He had a rating of 186.0 for Hawaii in 2006.

Wilson, a senior, has completed 206 of 284 passes for 2,879 yards and 31 touchdowns with three interceptions this season.

--Mike Hiserman

Photo: Oregon running back De'Anthony Thomas breaks down the sideline on a 64-yard touchdown run against Wisconsin on Monday at the Rose Bowl. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles